Focus Is Subtraction, Not Addition (ft. Leila Hormozi) | Ep 951

Summary

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The Game with Alex Hormozi

Episode 951: Focus Is Subtraction, Not Addition (ft. Leila Hormozi)
Date: March 10, 2026
Host: Alex Hormozi
Guest: Leila Hormozi

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Episode Theme – The Power of Focus Through Subtraction

This episode revolves around maximizing effectiveness—both in business and personal life—by focusing effort through subtraction, not addition. Alex and Leila dive into their highest-return social channels, stories from their relationship, advice on balancing ambition and connection, and practical strategies for productivity, especially for those with ADHD. The central message is that success most often comes from cutting distractions and picking a direction, not maximizing choices or adding complexity.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Best Performing Social Media Channels

(00:00-02:12)

• YouTube and Instagram are the top ROI-driving channels for both Alex and Leila.
  • “YouTube and Instagram are my number one and number two.” — Alex (00:14)
  • YouTube brings fewer leads than Instagram but converts at 3-4 times higher.
  • Tactical tip: TikTok traffic is easier to monetize by directing followers to DM on Instagram.
  • Podcasts and emails function best as "middle-of-funnel" channels, primarily fostering deeper connections rather than new discoverability.
  • “If I had two platforms, I would bet on it would be YouTube and Instagram.” — Alex (01:52)

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2. How Alex and Leila Met

(02:13-03:25)

• Leila recounts meeting Alex on Bumble, poking fun at his dating app profile.
  • “I think his profile was like… Own for gyms, working out, whiskey, cheap bourbon.” — Leila (02:18)
  • The couple’s first date was at a frozen yogurt shop, and initial impressions were mixed.
  • “I think Alex wrote me off immediately because I have a back tat.” — Leila (02:58)
  • Alex admits: “I did.” (03:04)
  • A lighthearted story that shows their chemistry and dynamic.

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3. Balancing Career Ambition and Relationships

(03:31-05:28)

• Advice for entrepreneurs seeking relationships while building their lives.
  • “It's funny when people say, I want to have my best life as if a relationship is not part of your best life.” — Leila (03:41)
  • Time constraints are a factor whether single or in a relationship.
  • Alex addresses the societal focus on maximizing options:
    “The goal is not to always maximize options because at some point you need to decide… In order to reap some of the rewards, you do need to pick. And when you pick, we define commitment as the elimination of alternatives.” — Alex (04:28)
  • Key message: There is a fundamental trade between freedom (maximizing options) and commitment (selecting and sticking with one path).
  • “You cannot have a lifelong partner and then also have ultimate optionality… Just know the trade you’re making.” — Alex (05:03)

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4. Rapid-Fire Personal & Business Q&A

(05:35-07:07)

• Light questions: Pineapple on pizza?
  • “I'm going to go definitively yes for pineapple on pizza, preferably pineapples and jalapeno.” — Alex (05:35)
  • Leila’s take: “I like ranch and pineapple rather than jalapeno and pineapple.” — Leila (05:50)
• On building relationships with Alex & Leila:
  • “Get to 50 million.” — Alex jokes (06:30)
  • Real answer: Apply for a role at their company and spend years learning and leading.
  • “We have, like, 18 exits on the team. Like, we have a lot of people who started business, founded businesses, sold them, and then joined our team.” — Alex (06:53)

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5. Focus and Productivity: Advice for Listeners with ADHD

(07:09-10:30)

• Listener asks if taking ADHD medication is “cheating” vs. relying on willpower.

• Alex reframes ADHD as a potential superpower:

  • “What you see as a handicap, I see as a superpower. It’s all how we frame it.” — Alex (07:28)
  • People with ADHD can hyperfocus on the right task, but easily lose track if distractions exist.

• Central productivity insight:

  • “Focus is through subtraction, not addition. There is no productivity hack that works. The only one is by removing everything else that removes productivity.” — Alex (08:33)
  • Metaphor: If locked in a room with a single black dot, that dot receives full attention—a demonstration of how removing alternatives directs focus.
  • “The best way to make sure that you do nothing but the work is to make sure there’s nothing else to do but the work.” — Alex (09:08)
  • Whether medicating or not, the biggest gains come from limiting environmental stimulation.
  • “There’s a lot of people I know who take Adderall who still can't get shit done.” — Alex (09:27)

• On procrastination:

  • “The reality is that most times, it takes significantly less time to accomplish a task than you think it does once you begin, but you delay longer from beginning the task than the entire task takes in totality.” — Alex (09:40)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “In order to reap some of the rewards, you do need to pick. And when you pick, we define commitment as the elimination of alternatives.” — Alex (04:28)
• “Focus is through subtraction, not addition.” — Alex (08:33)
• “There’s a lot of people I know who take Adderall who still can't get shit done.” — Alex (09:27)
• “The reality is… you delay longer from beginning the task than the entire task takes in totality.” — Alex (09:40)
• Playful banter about pizza toppings and favorite foods with genuine partner chemistry.

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Key Timestamps

• 00:00-02:12 — Social media channels for lead generation and monetization
• 02:13-03:25 — How Alex and Leila met
• 03:31-05:28 — Relationships vs. maximizing options in life/business
• 05:35-07:07 — Light Q&A (pizza, working with the Hormozis)
• 07:09-10:30 — Productivity, ADHD, and focus strategies

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Final Thoughts

The episode channels Hormozi’s direct, practical style—equal parts tactical advice, personal anecdotes, and unapologetically honest perspective. The unifying thread: whether aiming for business growth, relationships, or personal productivity, your greatest gains come not from adding more, but from strategic subtraction—eliminating distractions, committing deeply, and focusing on “the dot in the room.”

Transcript

[A]

What is your highest ROI or best social media channels right now between the ones that you're working on?

[B]

YouTube.

[A]

YouTube. All right, that's number one.

[B]

Yeah, I would say probably YouTube and Instagram.

[A]

Mm.

[B]

What about you?

[A]

I would also agree that YouTube and Instagram are my number one and number two.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And yeah, that goes for everybody. I actually did a huge video that broke down all of our lead flow and where it came from. Did you really?

[B]

Did it get good views crushed? Someone should link it there.

[A]

Oh my God. And so, and so I think the way to think about it, and I ranked them kind of S tiered or whatever, but it was like, how much discoverability is there? How easy is it to generate kind of purchase intent? So like calls to action. And so I'll tell you something that we found from school is that Instagram generates significantly more traffic than YouTube does. But YouTube traffic converts at like three or four times the percentage. And so YouTube is still for most because a lot of people who are on school who have communities have some content of some sort. And again, to be clear, some people have like a thousand followers. You don't need a lot. You need something. And so the people who have it, they track work because we can see attribution. YouTube is making them more money even though Instagram sends more traffic. But the, the first one and two for most people are going to be those buckets. We have seen that people do well at monetizing TikTok if they send the traffic to Instagram. Don't tell me, don't ask me why, but that's literally the CTA that they'll have inside their bio. So just a tactical hack for you if you have trouble monetizing your TikTok. But make the CTA like DME on IG and then that enters like the Instagram world. And for whatever reason, people are way more likely to do commerce and transact on Instagram, especially for more expensive stuff. Now that being said, you've got podcasts, you've got emails, things like that. Those are what I would consider middle of funnel. People don't really get discovered. Like no one's like, I just found this new email, you know, newsletter that doesn't really happen. It's follow up and podcast. Honestly, nowadays, very tough to get discovered via podcasts. But more realistically, you have, you repurpose your YouTube content as podcast material and people discover your podcast through your YouTube content. So if I had two platforms, I would bet on it would be YouTube and Instagram. In terms of monetization. And I've just seen that across creators.

[B]

Nice.

[A]

How did you guys meet Real Greg? There you go.

[B]

That's my question. Yeah, we met on Bumble Greg. I don't know if you've heard about it, but it's a dating app and Alex had, I think his profile was like, I looked sick. Own. Own for gyms, working out, whiskey, cheap bourbon.

[A]

Expensive steaks.

[B]

Expensive steaks. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Something cheesy. And then you had a picture of you.

[A]

She says, as she. As it converted her.

[B]

And then, then you had a picture of yourself from college in the water from spring break.

[A]

My mind. She says that I was 25. College was not like that long ago.

[B]

I know, but when I met you, I was like, you don't look the same.

[A]

I was bigger.

[B]

And then we met for froyo for our first date. And I think Alex wrote me off immediately because I have a back tat.

[A]

I did.

[B]

And he saw it, which, by the way, I got when I was like 18 and drunk and high. So sorry.

[A]

But yeah, it was tough.

[B]

Then you immediately were like, rude to me. Not rude, but you just were very

[A]

trying to get the date over with neutral.

[B]

And then we sat down and started talking. Then you warmed up. And then I realized that you needed to eat and that was part of it. And then once you had the food, I think you were much friendlier.

[A]

Nothing like sprinkles to cheer the day up. All right, I'm going to ask you a follow up that's business related.

[B]

Me?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. What do you want to ask me?

[A]

Okay. Give tips on how to get into a relationship when you're working to get to your best life. Like start a business and risk stuff. I know what that means. Crazy.

[B]

It's funny when people say, I want to have my best life as if a relationship is not part of your best life. I find that ironic because, like, we, for example, have like built our lives together. I think it depends on what kind of relationship you want. But in general, people are like, well, it's just really hard. I don't have time. I'm like, well, what do you think it's like when you're in a relationship?

[A]

Like, even less time.

[B]

It's even less time. So, yeah, it's interesting stuff out there. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[A]

I think something that you said to me last night actually was. You were. You were talking about something. What?

[B]

It's not convenient?

[A]

Yeah, it's not convenient. And I think that's the thing is it's like right now we have this big societal, like, narrative that everyone should maximize all options. And so it's all about freedom and

[B]

independence and like, like maximum efficiency.

[A]

Yeah, don't let anything tie you down, all that kind of stuff. But the thing is, like, I think it's about having options so that you can make a selection. The goal is not to always maximize options because at some point you need to decide. And so the easiest way that I can think about this is like, let's say you're like, I want to maximize the options of where I live. Right. And so as a result, you'll not have a home anywhere because you're like, well, I want to be able to do the mountains and I want to be able to do the valleys and I want to be able to do the desert and I also want to be able to do the snow. And the thing is, there is no location that does all those things. Right. Unless you're in the Dubai mall. But the idea follows, which is that in order to reap some of the rewards, you do need to pick. And when you pick, we define commitment as the elimination of alternatives. Which means that if you're like you said differently, you cannot have a lifelong partner and then also have ultimate optionality. If ultimate optimality is the thing that is more important to you, then you will not have a lifelong partner. And that's the choice. And to be clear, I don't think either of us are saying there's anything wrong with that. Just know the trade you're making.

[B]

Yeah, it's not convenient. I mean, it's like pursuing anything in life. It's like it's not going to be convenient. And is it worth the trade? Yeah.

[A]

Aiden Watson. I'm going to go definitively yes for pineapple on pizza, preferably pineapples and jalapeno. And I speak, I speak very, very aggressively about that.

[B]

I like ranch with pizza.

[A]

Yeah, because you're ranch and Mac and cheese on the inside. Okay.

[B]

I like pineapple too, but I like ranch and pineapple rather than jalapeno and pineapple. Jalapeno is spicy. Spicy and spicy out.

[A]

Okay. So juice.

[B]

Everyone knows that's true.

[A]

Jesus. What do we. Am I asking? I asked you. So you asked me one.

[B]

He's like, I'm going to ignore that. We don't talk like this on my channel. I don't care.

[A]

Pick one.

[B]

Me. Okay. Two year superfan at 19. I've consumed all your content. Thousands of cold calls, pushing seven figures. How do I get in a personal relationship with both of you didn't expect that one.

[A]

That took a twist.

[B]

Sorry about that. I would have ignored that one had I read the whole thing.

[A]

Get to 50 million.

[B]

That's not even true. I know.

[A]

It's not even true.

[B]

True.

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

I don't know either.

[A]

I don't know, to be honest with you, man. Actually, there is a way, which is like, if we have a role and you're like, I want to spend five years learning and lead something, you can apply for a role at acq. That's actually the way we were with

[B]

our team most of the time.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, my God. By a lot, I mean, we have, like, 18 exits on the team. Like, we have a lot of people who started business, founded businesses, sold them, and then joined our team.

[B]

So.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

All right, I'm gonna ask you one last question.

[A]

Oh, one last one. That's gonna be good.

[B]

Okay. I recently got diagnosed with adhd. And I suppose it explains a lot of the inaction I've always had. Should I just try to take meds for it, or is that cheating? Or should I just try to use willpower for more discipline?

[A]

Where'd she give me this one?

[B]

Well, what if people told you, oh, my God, how many times have you been diagnosed with something?

[A]

Something well diagnosed or people selling? Alex. So I'll tell you. I'll tell you a speech that I gave to someone that I cared about deeply, who let add, adhd, and other letters, I think, ruin their lives. And so when I had the conversation with this individual, I said, what you see as a handicap, I see as a superpower. It's all how we frame it. Somebody who has ADHD or ADD typically has a harder time abandoning tasks and can focus on one thing for extended periods of time. The issue is that, like, when that happens, it's like everything else disappears. And so the idea that, like, you have something or don't have something. Medicate, don't medicate. I'm not a doctor. Listen to your own. Whatever legal disclaimer we'll put below here. But it's the end of the day, like, needs to get done. And most of the time, you have other things in your environment that are more interesting to you than the thing, the task at hand. And so I will explain how I work. And different people work in different ways. What has worked well for me, as somebody who's very easily distracted, is that I remove all stimulus from the entire. From the environment. And so let me give you an extreme example. If I were locked into a room that had no corners, all white everywhere around, and there was nothing but a single black dot on the wall. What becomes the most interesting thing that gathers all my attention, the black dot. And so there's probably a black dot in the room that you are right now watching this, but you haven't noticed the black dot because there are other things that are competing for your attention. And so in order to focus, focus is through subtraction, not addition. There is no productivity hack that works. The only one is by removing everything else that removes productivity. And so somebody who is fully focused does literally nothing but the work. And the best way to make sure that you do nothing but the work is to make sure there's nothing else to do but the work. And so, fundamentally, I think for you, you would get a larger lift in your throughput or your work capacity by removing everything else that you do. That is not what you intend to do, and that is my productivity hack for you. So whether you want to medicate yourself or not, that's your call. I don't think it's going to change much. I'll say it differently. There's a lot of people I know who take Adderall who still can't get shit done. So I don't think it's going to be like, you'll probably benefit more from just exercising and limiting the stimuli in your work environment so that you have minimal disruptions. And I think what you need to do is you need to confront the work. The reality is that most times, it takes significantly less time to accomplish a task than you think it does once you begin, but you delay longer from beginning the task than the entire task takes in totality. And so this is the classic. It takes 20 hours to become proficient at almost any skill. It's just that people delay the first 20 hours by a decade. You just keep waiting for some perfect environment that's never going to happen.

[B]

That's a great answer.

[A]

Thank you. I appreciate that. My love.

[B]

Shall we wrap?

[A]

We shall wrap.